In our Creative Cultures series, Contributor Crystal Henrickson spends a day inside companies to learn how hiring, onboarding, and company culture play a role in employee happiness. From startups to design firms and all in-between, we’re pulling back the curtain on what it’s like to work in inventive and productive environments.

iQmetrix is a leading provider of retail management solutions for the North American retail industry. Its vision of creating great experiences for its people, partners and clients is evident in the creative, collaborative and open culture across their five offices: Vancouver, Regina, Winnipeg, Charlotte, North Carolina and Sydney, Australia.

Every morning, employees participate in an open meeting invitation to “Link Share,” and today, I’ve been asked to join them at their downtown Vancouver headquarters. The kitchen and lounge provide an informal place for an open meeting such as this one; staff are encouraged to stay ahead of trends, and these daily syncs feed blog commentary and social media fodder.

What you make it

“This is a truly unique environment — not because of all the little perks like beer taps in every office, nerf gun wars, free fitness classes, a million dollar office view and unlimited sick days…we call this the icing on the cake,” says Krystal Ho, Manager of Corporate Relations. “iQmetrix is whatever you want it to be, it’s not just a job, it’s a lifestyle.”

Communication is a two way street and attitude is everything. “You can train and build skills, you cannot train culture,” Krystal asserts. Potential candidates are screened not only on technical skills, but on cultural fit. After they’ve met the skills required for the posted position, a short list is called purely for a cultural phone screen. If a candidate falls short on one skillset, but looks like they are a great cultural fit, iQmetrix will always work to help them improve upon their skillset.

The freedom of expression

Employees are given the opportunity to create an experience from the ground up; individuals and teams collaborate on projects, drawing from diverse perspectives and knowledge to enhance the experience with each iteration. They’re encouraged to take initiative and explore new areas of interest. Every department has a training budget. Teams within the company unite, creating their own team names like Spark Lab or Midas.

“I’ve never actually gone to work,” admits Garett Rogers, Director of Technology with Spark Lab, iQmetrix’s innovation team. “It’s not a job, it’s just what I like to do. There’s always something new and something challenging, it’s always fun.” Spark Lab is tasked with staying up to date on the latest and greatest technologies. By scoping out and sharing their finds across the company, it helps to inspire product, sales and marketing teams to explore new applications and markets.

Creative Cultures: iQmetrix lives its give-back values

By Crystal Henrickson

From startups to design firms and all in-between, we’re pulling back the curtain on what it’s like to work in inventive and productive environments.

• Recognizing that there is a space and time for work….

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• … a time for play

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• … and time for rest

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• They boast a flexible lounge for group and individual work

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• With a kitchen that houses sandwich clubs to meetups

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• This team creates time to connect socially

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  Adding surprise and delight with team activities like this recent hike to a waterfall… complete with beer stashed at the destination!

• And finding fun everywhere!

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• Every year…

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  the iQmetrix team creates an opportunity to make a difference

• To give back to the global community

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  This year they went to Nicaragua, bringing running water to underserved communities.

The Vancouver office is clean and modern, incorporating natural materials. Work pods are both collaborative and private. Recently, the company upgraded its zen room with full soundproofing and additional lighting. Everything is geared towards creating a great experience. From fitness centres and personal training sessions in each office, to an in-house Green Team tasked with reducing the company’s environmental footprint and a completely peer-based philanthropy committee, iQmetrix is living its values: speed & agility, lifestyle, innovation, character, community and environment.

Giving back

A key value at iQmetrix is giving back. Programs like BYOB (Buy Your Own Birthday) encourage employees to donate to a charity and in return they get the day off. Company offsites can be anything from a surprise waterfall afternoon — complete with beers hidden at the summit — to an all hands working holiday in Nicaragua where this year iQmetrix’s employees helped bring running water to 200 homes that had never even had a tap.

“We recognize that we are so lucky where we live and others are not, so to combine our passion for community, we try to assist with environmentally sustainable charity projects. We aren’t about giving a hand out, but a hand up.” – Krystal Ho

And with that, it’s no surprise at all that iQmetrix ranks #31 among the 50 Best Small and Medium Employers in Canada, and were recently named one of Business In Vancouver’s Fastest Growing Companies. You can see the iQmetrix culture at work on their blog, What’s New in the Q.

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